By Canadian Press

Judo champ Christa Deguchi claims Canada’s first gold of Paris Games

Jul 29, 2024 | 10:12 AM

PARIS — It was a golden day for Canada on the judo mat.

Christa Deguchi captured the country’s first gold medal of the Paris Olympics with a victory over South Korea’s Huh Mimi in the under-57 kilogram final on Monday.

Deguchi was crowned Olympic champion after Huh was flagged for a false attack in sudden-death overtime, giving her a match-ending third penalty.

It’s Canada’s first-ever gold medal in judo and golden payback for Deguchi, who lost to Huh in the under-57 kg final at the 2024 World Championships.

Deguchi, 28, lives and trains in Japan, the country of her birth. She has competed for Canada since 2017 through her Canadian father.

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Despite being the No. 1 judoka in the world in the women’s 57 kg class, Deguchi did not have an easy road to the Games. She needed to outperform fellow Canadian and world No. 2, Jessica Klimkait, a bronze medallist in Tokyo, to book her ticket to Paris.

Earlier in the day, the diving duo of Nathan Zsombor-Murray, and Rylan Wiens won the bronze medal in the men’s synchronized 10-metre platform.

Zsombor-Murray, from Pointe-Claire, Que., and Regina’s Wiens finished third with a total of 422.13 points over six dives to claim Canada’s first-ever medal in the event, and the first Canadian men’s diving medal since Alexandre Despatie’s silver medal in the 3m springboard event in Beijing 2008.

The Chinese duo of Junjie Lian and Hao Yang won the gold medal with a score of 490.35 points, while Britain’s Tom Daley and Noah Williams followed with 463.44.

“I don’t know what to say. A dream has come true,” said Wiens. “My last 17 years of being diving, and since we paired up three years ago, it’s been our dream to be here. To have won it, that’s awesome.”

Meanwhile. the drone spying scandal that has tarnished Canada’s women’s soccer team in the early days of the Paris Games is now headed to a special Olympic court.

The organization and the Canadian Olympic Committee appealed a point deduction against the team on Monday, and the case is set to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s special Olympic court in Paris in a closed-door hearing likely on Tuesday.

A ruling is expected Wednesday, before Canada’s final group stage game against Colombia in Nice.

FIFA docked six points from the women’s team on Saturday after a team analyst was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s practices before the start of competition. The penalty also included a fine for Canada Soccer and the suspension of three coaching staff members for one year.

The appeal is the latest development in a scandal that has also seen the federal government withhold some funding from Soccer Canada.

On the water, Canada’s women’s eight rowing team will have a second chance to qualify for the final at the Paris Games.

The team, which took home the gold in Tokyo, came in third in its heat Monday morning. That means it will row in a repechage on Thursday.
Several members of the team were on the winning eights team in Tokyo.

Canada’s women’s basketball team got off to a disappointing start, losing their tournament opener 75-54 to host France Monday in Lille.

Shay Colley of Brampton, Ont., led the fifth-ranked Canadians with 11 points and six assists.

Canada’s will face world No. 3 Australia on Thursday before closing out pool play against 12th-ranked Nigeria on Sunday.

Boxer Wyatt Sanford, Kennetcook, N.S., was very impressive in his Olympic debut with a dominant victory over Bulgaria’s Radoslav Rosenov in the men’s 63.5-kilogram Round of 16 Monday.

The top-seeded Sanford, who won gold at last year’s Pan American Games champion in Chile, will face Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The beach volleyball pair of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, both of Toronto, scored an easy victory in their first match at the Paris Olympics, defeating Paraguay’s Giuliana Poletti and Michelle Valiente Amarilla 2-0 on Monday.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, ranked No. 3 in the world, are making their Olympic debut as a team. Both competed at the Tokyo Games with different partners.

Over at the clay courts of Roland Garros, Leylah Fernandez , of Laval, Que., will move on to the third round of the women’s singles tennis competition after knocking off Spain’s Cristina Busca in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-3, on Monday.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., had her Olympic debut end early with a 6-3, 6-4 second-round oss to Croatia’s Donna Vekic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2024.

The Canadian Press